Saturday, October 30, 2010

Rangers ride Lewis' arm, Moreland's bat

Starting pitcher:
M.C. O'Connor

Colby Lewis gave up two home runs, just like Jonathan Sanchez. The San Francisco southpaw, however, put two men on in the 2nd inning before giving up his first home run, and that was the difference in the game. The unpredictable lefty got himself in trouble by walking Bengie Molina with two outs. Ninth-place hitter Mitch Moreland, who last year was a Frisco RoughRider (AA, Texas League), then launched a three-run homer to give the Rangers enough for a win. Colby Lewis kept the Giants from stringing together hits, but the Giants have a knack for that regardless of the pitcher. The freakish scoring of the first two games disappeared quickly, and solo shots from the indomitable Cody Ross and the inconsistent Andres Torres were all the Giants could manage off a tough and effective Lewis. Pablo Sandoval struck out and grounded into a double play, and Pat Burrell had four whiffs in four shots. Jonathan Sanchez was certainly a disappointment and was clearly out-pitched by his Texas counterpart. He'll have to do better than that if his turn comes round again. The Giants have played well on the road so far this post-season, and they ought to be confident that they can continue that run tomorrow and Monday. The Giants got beat with their own formula tonight, and they, of anyone, ought to know how effective that formula is!

6 comments:

We pitched to Bengie Molina like he was Barry Bonds. What was that all about? In the 2nd inning, we don't go after Bengie? Come on. Then, later, he comes up again, & we 'intentionally' walk him again.

One thing about today's game that scares the shit out of me:

We were looking at our potential Game #7 starter looking very ineffective & out-classed for his second start in a row ... we'd better get to winning the whole thing no later than Game #6.

The obvious:

Pat Burrell is playing himself out of the line-up, or least pushing himself further down the line-up. In the entire post-season, he has 4 RBI's, & 3 of those were on a 3-run HR in the loss against Atlanta. He has 19 whiffs in 38 at-bats. The guys on Fox Deportes were suggesting giving Rowand a game, & I have a hard time disagreeing, although that may not be a good idea against the RHP tomorrow. Another option is to put Huff in LF, & Ishikawa at 1B.

The dilemma:

Sandoval did nothing - DP, K, fly out, plus behind on the count 0 & 2 every time up. Does he play again tomorrow?

Not an impressive display - reminiscent of our lamest stretches in the regular season. Colby Lewis pitched well, but we didn't even make him work hard. Very undisciplined. Get it together, Giants.

On the bright side, Cody Ross remains a god. And I forget in which inning, the Giants turned one of the best double plays I have ever seen. FSanchez's pivot was unbelievable.JSanchez was not awful, but not good either. If it comes to a game seven (it won't) I would not like to see him go out there.

I disagree, Bob. J. Sanchez had nothing. We pitched him in Texas supposedly because of his superior 'swing-through stuff'. I remember virtually no swing-throughs. During the critical at-bat, one could admire Moreland's grit on a few breaking pitches, or one could say that that was Sanchez's swing-through moment to a left-handed batter, & he missed the moment entirely. Mitch Moreland is a first baseman who bats ninth - that says something. If you're going to be able to get someone out with regularity, it should be if you are a left-handed pitcher with swing-through stuff pitching to a left-handed batting 1B who bats ninth. Horrible moment for the Giants.

I land in between Bro and Ron. I think you have to give credit to Moreland for a GREAT at bat. He is HOT, even tho he bats ninth. Three or four of those pitches were near perfect. But, I do think something is seriously off with Sanchez and that was his last start of 2010. He only gave up 5 homers to LH all year...then 2 last night. hmmmm

Burrell not only must be out of tonight's lineup, he is out of consideration for next year. In fact, I could definitely see a scenario in which Pat has just finished his Giants career. If we put him back to flail at Lee and Wilson it will be a truly sad end to a nice contribution. Pat the Bat must sit the rest of this one out. I go with Nate in RF (batting 9th) tonight(Ross in LF) and stick with the Panda as DH. I'm not thrilled about that but, face it, our offense sucks pretty much no matter what. Remember? At least that gives us defense and better speed.

I'm sick of treating Bengie Molina with kid gloves. Go after him, fer chrissakes!!! Pat Burrell was shockingly bad. I'm ready to give Rowand a shot vs. Lee and Schierholtz a shot vs. Hunter. Sandoval is our best chance at DH, I think, even though he looks bad. He just might get a big hit, though, and I don't think there is anyone else.

Moreland had a great at-bat. They (JS and Buster) seemed to run out of ideas and finally got burned when they came inside. I don't want to contemplate a Game 7 start for JS. We need to win behind MadBum today.

I think it will ultimately be revealed that Burrell has had a blown knee for months, and has been playing heavily medicated. (His face has been looking kinda puffy lately.) Why else remove him from every game? The law of diminishing returns kicked in a while ago and the gamble is not paying off anymore.